Aiming to keep its focus on Windows Vista, Microsoft is now targeting 2007 for its next Windows XP service pack update.

In a posting to its life cycle Web site, Microsoft set a preliminary date of the second half of next year for the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 for both home and professional editions. That puts its debut well past the arrival of Vista, which is slated for the second half of this year and later than both outsiders and some insiders had originally predicted.

"We will be releasing another service pack for XP over the course of the product life cycle, and we are tentatively targeting the second half of 2007 for release," a Microsoft representative said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "However, right now our priority is Windows Vista–we’ll have more information to share about the next service pack for XP after Windows Vista ships."